Unused Software Assurance benefits may not sound like promising opportunity, but some partners are building business by helping customers discover and implement underused assets.
Microsoft's Software Assurance Planning Services are engagements conducted by certified partners to help customers with deployment plans for desktop, server and cloud applications. Underwritten in full or in part by Microsoft as a benefit from the customer's software assurance program, the highly structured engagements are designed to help customers fully deploy the software that they own. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on December 06, 20120 comments
Building assessment tools is certainly not new to the Microsoft partner channel, but one partner has simplified the process to a level that may be more effective for reaching prospects. While some partners have great success with the Microsoft-sponsored assessment programs (like the Software Assurance Planning Services), they are not easily explained on a Web site or through a marketing campaign.
On the other hand, the Cloud Application Assessment recently launched by Hanu Software, an Azure Circle partner headquartered in Princeton, N.J., is simple and delivers a well-defined outcome to the prospect. Targeted at ISVs and companies with custom developed applications, the assessment walks the prospect through a series of questions to recommend a cloud deployment strategy. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on November 29, 20120 comments
It's heartbreaking to read stories about the businesses affected by the Hurricane Sandy disaster. Family businesses built over generations were destroyed by rising water and no power. Unfortunately, the cloud can't back up food in the refrigerator, but it can safeguard the digital assets of every business.
The heightened awareness of the devastating results of natural disaster provides an opening to educate your clients and prospects about business continuity. As a cloud expert, you have the opportunity to teach your community about the options they have to protect their businesses. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on November 15, 20120 comments
There are two schools of thought in the partner community on the best approach to marketing during the first wave of a product launch. One is to wait until Microsoft starts getting traction after a product launch and then answer your customer's questions. The other approach is to get in front of the product launch -- training employees and testing beta code -- to ride the Microsoft marketing blitz wave.
While the first approach is less expensive and limits risk, the second can deliver rewards on multiple levels. Obviously, making points with Microsoft is a benefit, but building excitement for your team and your customers sets you apart from the crowd -- which has never been more important. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on November 08, 20124 comments
For those partners focused on inbound marketing -- drawing prospects to your Web site with valuable content -- the creation of that content is the biggest challenge. The functional and technical experts in your organization are the ones who have the information worth sharing with prospects, but they don't have the time to write it down. Which is the reason why a new method of building content, called content curation, is gaining popularity.
The idea behind content curation is that there is more information being produced and made available on the Internet than any one person can monitor. By helping to filter and highlight valuable content, you save time for your prospects and build your status as an industry expert. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on November 01, 20121 comments
When it comes to marketing, there seems to be no greater challenge to partners than limiting the target market. The fear of missing any opportunity seems to outweigh the logic of focusing on the market that you serve best -- and ignoring the others.
Mike Michalowicz, author of the new book The Pumpkin Plan, goes so far as to suggest that partners identify their top clients, focus all of their efforts on them and fire the rest. Sounds pretty darn appealing, doesn't it? More
Posted by Barb Levisay on October 29, 20121 comments
Marketing tactics may have evolved to focus more on virtual connections with prospects and customers, but there is no replacement for face-to-face relationship building. In-person events give you the opportunity to have the deeper conversations with customers that build trust and understanding. There is no doubt that in-person events require significant time and effort, but the rewards are worth the investment.
From technical seminars to catered parties, the goal of the event should inspire the venue and shape the content. A Microsoft store is a great place for a sales-oriented technology launch but a customer appreciation event needs a more creative approach. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on October 18, 20123 comments
Every partner organization has a wealth of knowledge inside the heads of its consulting and technical teams -- knowledge that can provide the basis for valuable marketing content. The problem lies in tapping into that knowledge so that your marketing team can share it with the world.
Your consultants and developers are creating content every day -- from proposals to system architecture documents to functional designs. With some editing and imagination, you can transform the documents your technical team is creating to build a steady stream of marketing content. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on October 11, 20120 comments
Your buyer has changed. Prospects come into the sales cycle equipped with much more knowledge -- which they have harvested themselves from the Internet -- than they used to. While that may not be news to you, have you adjusted your marketing to respond to the change?
Reed Overfelt, CEO of FullQuota, has spent a lot of time studying buyer behavior and designing lead-generation programs for technology companies. "There is a hidden sales cycle. Prospects enter the sales process equipped and ready. They have spent time researching without input from anyone," Overfelt said. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on October 04, 20121 comments
In most of the discussions about changing partner business models, the concept of verticalization is front and center. But fear of limiting the market to serve a smaller pool of prospects keeps most partners from taking the full plunge into specialization. And while it may seem illogical to find more customers by marketing to fewer prospects, it's working for a growing number of partners.
'A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep'
When Greg Lemon, partner at Kraft Enterprise Systems, a Gold Dynamics ERP partner, first received the Microsoft "go vertical" message four years ago, he took it to heart. "We fell into the category of VAR that is a mile wide and an inch deep," Lemon said. More
Posted by Barb Levisay on September 27, 20120 comments